August 15, 2016
Return to Germany: Remember me?
Hello, remember me? Sorry again about the extreme lack of updates. I'll tell you what happened - I'd thought it a good idea to drag out the last few posts you see, so that this journal would end at just about the same time as our new website and my book would both be ready, thus blending things together seamlessly. Unfortunately, I rather miscalculated on how long it would take for the new website and my book to become ready. Who knew writing a book would be such work, eh? Anyway, they're both nearly ready now, so hold onto your hats, for there is a lot coming in the way of updates on the adventures of Chris and Dea over the next few weeks.
I'll start by finishing off this story. If you can cast your mind backs to the glorious days of last summer, Dea and I had just been reunited in the Netherlands and were on our way to Denmark. Copenhagen was our goal, a finishing line, of sorts. In our way stood Germany. We crossed the border on a little bridge, where a nice couple cycling the other way took our photo. The woman had lived in Denmark for eight months, 30 years earlier, and was able to, very impressively, converse with Dea in Danish.
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We were greeted by lots of wind turbines and cycle paths that were, as the couple had warned us, bumpier and less well-maintained than their Dutch equivalents. Still, it was nice that they existed, and even better was to arrive in the town of Bunde and discover the joys of seeing Aldi and Lidl supermarkets. I ran inside excited like a child and came out with bags of Flips and three different types of cookies. It was good to be back in Germany after all these years.
We continued on the bike path beside the main road and before long saw a beach volleyball court. This was the first we'd seen that was real sand, and we made time for a game. It turned out to be as epic as the photo you'll enjoy below. Dea won the first set 16-14, and had two match points in the second before I came back to level things up with an 18-16 scoreline. But in the final, decisive moments, I crumbled, and Dea won the third 15-11. Well done to her, she is very tall.
I was having better luck in our 'spotting things' game, where I won victory a few days in a row. On one memorable occasion I spotted all ten of my things and had the win wrapped up by lunchtime. But the fun and games didn't stop there. We bought a real football so that we could have real penalty shoot-outs, and I was delighted to win the first of these. Less enjoyable was when we stopped to play mini-golf, where Dea beat me by a scarcely believable 21 shots. The mental scars are still yet to heal.
I was on the lookout for new tyres as mine were now worn almost right through. I thought that in Schwalbe's home country I'd be able to buy Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres in bike shops no trouble, yet absolutely nobody had them. It was quite unbelievable. In one shop the owner, a humourless old man, tried to sell me Schwalbe Marathon Originals instead.
“Zees Original is much better zan zee Marathon Plus,” he declared.
“No, it's not,” I said, knowing he was lying.
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it's not.”
Then the German man, clearly exacerbated at the thought that I might actually know something about the tyres I wanted to buy, shouted, “YOU KNOW NOTHING!”
Had I been a calmer man I might have let it go, but having conducted what I would consider a fairly robust test of the bicycle tyres we were discussing, I didn't.
“You see that bike?” I said, pointing at it through the window. “I've cycled it 100,000 kilometres. I've used Marathon Plus and Marathon Original, and I know very well that Plus last twice as long as Original. You know nothing.”
Then I walked out leaving him speechless. It was awesome.
Generally cycling across Germany was great. The weather was good, the cycle paths great, the company fantastic. We passed endless fields where tractors were busy harvesting. Wind turbines loomed everywhere. The paths ran alongside the roads, and were flat. It was easy cycling. It was a place I had dreamed of being many times on my way around the world. During the hard times, on busy roads in China, or steep climbs in Tajikistan, or sandy tracks in Mongolia, I'd secretly fantasised about what it would feel like to ride on the flat, safe cycle paths of northern Germany again. And here I was now, I'd made it back. And with Dea alongside me, boy did it ever feel good.
15/08/16 – 81km (30km in Germany)
16/08/16 – 94km
17/08/16 – 66km
18/08/16 – 106km
19/08/16 – 97km (78km in Germany)
Today's ride: 374 km (232 miles)
Total: 57,091 km (35,454 miles)
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